Dempsey went pro in 1914 and went inactive around ‘23 before the comeback, Jeffries went pro around 1894, before first retiring in 1904. In this scenario he would essentially be fighting Jeff’s opponents around the time he fought Firpo. How would Jack do against Jeff’s best opponents, while peaking at the same time he did? Could he have beaten Jeffries’ best opponents when he fought them? I’m not including Johnson because I doubt he can beat a prime Johnson on a comeback. How would he do against the likes of Choynski, Sharkey, Corbett, Ruhlin, Fitzsimmons?
I don’t see any reason Dempsey couldn’t beat these men. To me Jeffries in Dempsey’s place would answer more questions than vice versa.
Dempsey would likely beat all of Jeffries pre-retirement opposition. However, Jack sometimes got caught early, and if Ruby Bob the Freckled Wonder hit Jack hard early it would be very interesting. Another question is whether one of Dempsey's workmates brain-farts and tosses a medicine ball at Jack, causing a lingering elbow-displacement only fixed, after two fights (Sharkey II and Corbett I), by casting. [More of an issue with Sharkey, though Jeffries said he still couldn't fully extend his left 1900-Corbett, and x-rays would show a fore-arm bone still 1/4" displaced].
Verbatim x2 on mcvey's Not that I think low of Jeffries. Gus, Tom, Bob, all would have been good fights, better than Miske, but Choynski s probably the toughest for Dempsey. Dempsey I reckon takes him, but not easy.
I see a massive reason why he couldn't. Throw Dempsey in against the same opponents, with the same amount of ring experience, and he probably comes away in a body bag. Same goes for Jack Johnson.
Jeffries stated he was in top condition for the Sharkey fight,with his arm completely healed.He only brought up the previous injury when some said they thought Sharkey deserving of a draw.
It's a point though. Ruhlin had only3 fights more and Corebett had less than Jeffries. Perhaps if Dempsey had; 42 lbs on Choynski 27 lbs on Sharkey 39 lbs on Fitz 30lbs on Corbett. Dempsey might be spared the body bag?
No he didn't. Nor did he have the benefit of full time coaching in a gymnasium or regular dinners as Jeffries did,he was fighting in hobo jungles and saloon dives for eating money.
IIRC he was saying that it fully healed in the leadup to their fight, but in reality what else are you supposed to say? That your arm isn't completely healed in the leadup to a title fight? Even if the arm had healed up in the leadup, it's pretty well established that it wasn't as fully healed as people thought and that Jeffries re-injured it at some point in the fight, presumably in the second round. Jeffries trying to fight as a southpaw sounds like a fever dream lol, imo it's proof of his arm's poor condition. I have yet to get Mr. Pollack's book on Jeffries (though I do have the ones on Corbett and Sullivan), but here's what I could find from him on this topic; I think Jeff was badly handicapped by that left arm injury in the second Sharkey bout, not only in terms of his ability to throw lefts hard and often during the fight, but in the amount of sparring that he could do. That is a big deal for a left-handed fighter. I think he was physically in great shape because he did a lot of running and calisthenics, etc. but his sparring had to be limited by an injury of that nature. Plus, reinjuring it during the fight handicapped him. (Jeffries-Sharkey II, round 2 comments) "Jeffries later claimed to have reinjured his left arm when punching Sharkey hard in this round, which thereafter affected how hard and how often he could throw the left." p.308 (Pollack summarizes Jeffries after Jeffries-Sharkey II) "After the fight, Jeff ... said that the injury to his left arm that he had suffered in training bothered him during the fight, and as a result, he could not punch as hard or as often with his left, and had to rely primarily on his right. This explains why Jeff relied on his right so much, when ordinarily he mostly used his left."
Choynki lost 14 fights 10 of them by ko ,a good chin he did not have. He was floored 5 times and stopped by welterweight Joe Walcott. Stopped twice by middleweight Kid Carter. Ko'd by Corbett Ko'd by McCoy Among others I don't think his jaw stands up to even a young Dempsey.
I know Jeffries said that after the fight,I have the book,my question is --- Why not ask for postponement ,after all he was the defending champion? Sharkey broke a finger in their 2nd fight and suffered broken ribs and a damaged shoulder.